what linux distro do you use and/or like? (i know its a dumb question.)

i want to use linux but am unable to decide which distro to use ... I need something developer centric but at the same time reasonably stable (which rules out fedora).
i am hoping this poll will help me decide.

In theory I'd run Debian -- I like their attitude and their preference in leaning toward absolute stability in their aptly named 'stable' release.

But in practice I run and am very happy with the RHEL family (RHEL servers at work; CentOS laptop at home).

If I could make a recommendation, it'd be to test drive a few different Linux distros, select your favorite, and then stick with it. There are substantial differences between distro foo and distro bar in everything from package management to startup and initialization eccentricities to community cultures. In my experience, "specializing" in one distro is a lot more productive than hopping around every few months. YMMV.

I like Debian, largest ports collection available, but on -current. These are kanopix and sidux.
Also like puppylinux, rather the deviant grafpup. (Read what he says about first user=sudo).
Just depends on the usage: appendable CDROM liveCD or ports availability.
Now, for any other usage, it is Slackware. At least with slackware you don't have to search for *-devel or headers and can GNU-make sources.

Now, for Xen VMs I would choose CentOS (although getting the source collection for a given CentOS kernel in a real pain in the "a"{dollars}.
Better go OpenSolaris.
I used to install Ubuntu, but can't get my TV cards to have sound before breaking an app (have to break kdetv with no sound, to get motv working with sound and kdetv exiting with errors). Farewell Ubuntu, but without me.

Haven't a goot working VMware anymore.

Lastly, some apps only run on the distro they have been written for (typical Linuxism, bash-ism, UTF-8-ism, ...) . Hence, like it or not, I sometimes need one distro for one app.
Thanks gawd, there is GRUB.

All in all, slackware for debugging purposes, grafpup to cd/usb boot from anywhere with my desktop apps. OpenSolaris to keep informed.

I use CentOS for work apps I've had problems running in OpenBSD. It works fine, and since it's pretty much mirrored off Red Hat Enterprise, it's got a lot of popularity (which is important if you don't know what you're doing.)

But I would agree with the advice above- for your first couple of years pick a distro and stick with it (unless it seriously disagrees with you.) Too many have bopped around from distro to distro while learning the ropes, only to find themselves utterly confused.

__________________religions, worst damnation of mankind"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus TorvaldsLinux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not UNIX”.vermaden's:linksresourcesdeviantartspreadbsd

I use Debian (Lenny) due to the fact it's very much a 'rolling-release' meaning I can keep it up to date without having to reinstall the whole system - a useful concept that both Fedora and Ubuntu (and others) seem incapable of doing.

There are only about two distros that I have any respect for, Debian and Slackware.

If I was going to setup a Linux desktop for serious (long term) use, I'd go with Slackware if possible (y) or create a personalized Linux From Scratch of my own.

I would suggest Ubuntu or going Distro-Hunting if you're inquisitive about different distros to use. Ubuntu (and PCLinuxOS I hear) are good if your starting out, and unlike Debian and Slackware -- Ubuntu actually works on my systems without 'kicking' and boots faster then Debian.

If your interest is in learning GNU/Linux systems more so, I'd look for some thing that has less hand holding and more focused for people who know the system (Slack, Crux, Arch, etc might be a good idea). If the goals just a usable working environment any desktop based system should work.

*ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Sayabaon or w/e it is, Mandriva, etc.

Visit the websites of different distros and look around, try to find one that feels more to your tastes and needs.

The only major reason to use a canned distro is because you can't, won't, or don't want to make one for yourself lol.

My favorite is Arch. However, I confess, since this job change, I've gotten an affection for CentOS for its stability and Fedora for...I dunno, just because. I could make lists of all the things that irk me about RH distros, or any distro, but shucks, any O/S makes you think about the things its lacking that you could get from another.

Whether or not you know what you're doing, the support that is given RH based stuff can be helpful. It saves time googling because some developer was too darn lazy to write two lines of documentation to save thousands of people hours.

That is, of course, not fair--I think that what usually happens is that developers know the program and forget to write the things that they take for granted that others have to figure out.

If this is a hobby type thing, then choose anything. If it's work related, choose something supported--for instance, if you have to learn to use cacti (Hi Ai-danno) it will keep you busy enough--you don't want to have to spend 45 minutes figuring how to get it installed on your system.

If this is a hobby type thing, then choose anything. If it's work related, choose something supported--for instance, if you have to learn to use cacti (Hi Ai-danno) it will keep you busy enough--you don't want to have to spend 45 minutes figuring how to get it installed on your system.

Holy Cow tell me about it! I would like nothing more than to proudly proclaim that I have shifted everything at work to OpenBSD, and yet because the pesky Cacti performance issue, I fall back to 'good ole' CentOS. He's right, when it comes to the workplace, you use what gets the job done, no matter what your personal preferences may be.

The only things I would run Linux for are GFX support (Intel X3000), working Wine and Virtualization (kvm, virtualbox, xen).

As for virtualization and gfx also Solaris is ok, but it almost does not have a package management :/ and wine is years behind Linux.

__________________religions, worst damnation of mankind"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus TorvaldsLinux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not UNIX”.vermaden's:linksresourcesdeviantartspreadbsd

Folks, please watch the language. Any forum, especially one that may be almost quasi official is also, directly or indirectly, advocacy.

As for flash, most of the time, I can do without it, but unfortunately, there are those times when I can't. (Which could lead to a whole new thread.)

Sad to say, there are those times when I need or want flash 9 for one reason or another. Alsa, and now, pulse-audio, seem to be answers to questions no one was asking, and one would think that they would get it right, but....

Fedora was probaby the first to use pulse-audio--however, between that and tying sound to a gnome program, last November, they broke sound for 20-30 percent of their users. Ubuntu came closer to getting it right, possibly learning from Fedora's errors.
Right now, in Fedora, I'm using rawhide, which is thier testing---like CURRENT, but with more of an attitude of, Let's try this and if it breaks something else, well, we'll worry about that later, so I can't say--it didn't work last night, but might with the latest updates today, if I have a chance to check.

That's not a criticism of that attitude, they make it very plain and anyone using Rawhide does it at their own risk.

Gentoo doesn't have the quality that it used to. Save yourself the trouble and run Debian Sid. That's what I'm running, and I switched over from Gentoo.

Well, actually I tried to launch Gentoo 2007 live DVD on my machine (very common, non-exotic one), but it stopped halfway after loading the kernel. Frankly I was disappointed and didn't even bother to google about this. I've been looking forward to the next release.
By the way what are your particular reasons to ditch Gentoo? Not for holy war, just to understand your position.
PS. Anyway my primary OS is still FreeBSD.